Just before the Second World War the Durrell family decamped to the glorious, sun-soaked island of Corfu where the youngest of the four children, ten-year-old Gerald, discovered his passion for animals: toads and tortoises, bats and butterflies, scorpions and octopuses. Through glorious silver-green olive groves and across brilliant-white beaches Gerry pursued his obsession... causing hilarity and mayhem in his ever-tolerant family. Durrell's memories of those enchanted days gave rise to these three classic tales, loved by generations of adults and children alike, which are now available in one volume for the first time.

"He has uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentrics"– Sunday Telegraph

"A delightful book full of simple, well-known things: cicadas in the olive groves, lamp fishing at night, the complexities of fish and animals – but, above all, childhood moulded by these things"– New York Times

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Biography

Born in India in 1925, Gerald Durrell settled on Corfu with his family as a boy, and immediately became fascinated by the island's natural history. He spent much of his time studying the local wildlife and kept numerous, and often unusual, pets. He grew up to be a famous naturalist, animal-collector and conservationist. Over his lifetime he wrote 37 books, went on dozens of animal-collecting trips and presented numerous TV shows. He founded Jersey Zoo in 1959 as a centre for the conservation of endangered species, and created the Jersey Wildlife Conservation Trust in 1963. Gerald ran the Zoo from its foundation until his death in 1995, and his wife Lee is still Honorary Director of the Trust.